MakerBot Replicator new 3D printer

Our friend Bre Pettis has introduced the MakerBot Replicator, his company's latest open source 3D printer. It can print much larger objects than the cupcake-sized creations spewed by previous models, and with the optional Dualstrusion feature, it does two colors. The fully-loaded Replicator is $2k. Congrats, Bre! "Introducing The MakerBot Replicator"

Though having said that, it would be really hard to make reliable connections to it, and the conductive plastic would have quite a lot of electrical resistance, so it wouldn’t be quite like having a 3D printed circuit board. Oh well, it was a nice thought while it lasted :)

TLDrewrite:
Ultimaker’s extruder uses a flexible shaft drive, which is springier and harder to reverse, but that might be compensated for in software. So quality might be as good, but may take more tweaking. Just a guess. But it’s lighter and will be faster for that.

Many people base their purchase off of shipping cost. Ultimaker will be cheaper in europe, Makerbot in the US.

I have to admit- I really enjoyed building our makerbot- it gave us an intimate knowledge of how it worked, and removed the fear of breaking it if we ever have to get back inside it to repair/tweak something.

That being said- still wrestling with calibrating the dang thing so having it come all put together is a bit of a bonus ;-).